Apparatus for burning liquid fuel



Jan. 22, 1935. I w. J. D. VAN DIJCK ET AL 8 APPARATUS FOR BURNING LIQUID FUEL Filed Jan. 15, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 fflyen ions.- Fz'y. Z. I l/z'ZZem J0. Mm pg'cz Jan. 22, 1935. V

APPARATUS FOR BURNING LIQUID FUEL Filed Jan. 13, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I i F .5

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[EVenZors 17:71am .12 Van Dq/Clr A drz'aarz M [17009622 am K by tlzez'rditarney w. J. D. VAN DIJCK T AL 3 '5, Ina recently Patented Jan. 22, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT "OFFICE APPARATUS FOR BURNING LIQUID FUEL 7 Claims. (Cl-158 91) scription reference is made to the accompany-- This invention relates to burners of the vaporizing type and is particularly concerned'with obtainingsmokeless combustion with such u ners.- I l devised process, liquidv fuel in small. amounts in anon-atomized state is brought intocontact with heated air which has attained the required high temperature by being mixed with amounts of hot combustion gases. One manner of carrying this. process into effect includes passing air for combustion tangentially into-1a cylindrical combustion chamber, having a centrally located outlet for combustion'gases. The fuel is supplied'to a plate near the circular wall of. the chamber, and owing to the described arrangement the airand combustion gases follow aspiral shaped course within'the chamber, causing a'slight mixing of the combustion gases with the. incoming air, so that the temperature of the air is raised considerably before the air comes intocontact with'the liquid fuel.: a l

It is an object ofthis invention. to devise a means whereby a more complete. combustion may be? effected in. apparatus of the above described types Another object of this invention is to devise means in which a more intimate mixing of the air stream. with the vaporized fuel is brought about. I I w I We have found that for obtaining the desired smokeless combustion the currents of gaseous products emanating from the liquid fuel should be in contact, if possible, on all sides with heated aircu'rrents. T

According to one feature ofour invention the air forcombustion is led' immediately above and below the fire plate (upon which the liquid fuel isspreadl in'such. a manner that the layer of gaseous evaporation and decomposition products of the fuel is enclosed by layers of air. In addition to being heated by being mixed with the Barrie gases-in the combustion chamber; this air may be preliminarily heated by causi'ng it to flow along the outsideof the combustion chamber. The plate on which the fuel is spread maybe divided into separate-parallelstrips separated byintermediate strips towhich no fuel but only air is supplied, so that the current offi vaporation. and, decomposition products form a strip to fwhichflfuel is. supplied, is surrounded on. all sides; by currents ofgair. a 1

Qtherfeatures of'our invention will appear from,the following description of apparatus incorporating, our invention, throughout which deing drawings, of which Fig. I is a longitudinal'section Fig. IIis a cross-section along the line II- II" of Fig. I. Fig. III is a cross-section of a modified form of the apparatus having a damper for admittingunheated air. Fig. IV is across-section of a modified'formof the apparatus having dampers for regulating the-flow of air above and'below the fire plate. '-Fig. V'isan elevation of means for movingthe fireplate after a predetermined amount of oil has flowed-into the fire plate. Fig. VI is an elevation of means for moving the fire plate after a predetermined. period of time has elapsed; Fig. VII is an elevation of means by which the fuel feed pipes may be moved laterally.

Fig. VIII is a plan view of a fuel feed arrangement I in which a fuel feed pipe is located over every groove of the fire plate.

Referring to" the drawings (.1) represents a cy'- lindrical combustion chamber having an outlet for combustion gases (16) at *oneenclythe other end of the chamber being closed by means of a. hinged door (5') which can'be opened'forinspection, cleaning, and lighting. The air for combustion enters the chamber (1 through an of the apparatus inlet provided in its wall near the closed end of chamber =(l) This inlet is divided into two openings (2):,and (3) by means of a fire plate (4);.

Concentric with the cylindrical combustion chamber (1) is mounted. a second cylinder (6)" of greater diameter. This cylinder is provided with and pieces. so that a jacket-like space 'is formed-between the walls ofthe two'cylind'ers. The cylinder (6) has an opening. 10 its wall near the open end of the combustion chamber (1 so that the air'for'. combustion enters the cylinder .(6) tangentiallyand flows througlrtlfe space between the walls of the two cylinders and in so doing is heated bylbeing in heat exchange'rel'ation'ship with .hot'combu'stion gases flowing in oppositedirectionin the combustion chamber (1) moreove'r an excessive heatingof the combustion chamber; wall is thus prevented. In order to i'ncrease the rotating movement of: theair, ahelicalguide plate (7) is fitted irrthe jacket space. The axial movement of the air i-n the' jacket space is op'positeto that in thecombustion chamber (1 The several through the adjacent grooves. A flame is produced by the combustion of the gaseous mixture formed. The hot combustion gases travel in a spiral direction around the cylinder axis causing the mixing of a part of the combustion gases with a part of the fresh air entering through the openings (2) and (3) so that a very hot oxygen con-' taining gas is obtained which promotes a ready evaporation and combustion of the fuel when it comes into contact with it. The fire plate (4) is preferably so mounted in the combustion cham'-' ber that it can be moved laterally at least a distance-equal to the width of one groove. The fire plate (4) may be provided on its lower face with a layer of insulation (14) consisting of asbestos boardor other suitable material in order to prevent overheating of the plate.

When operating'the above described apparatus with heavy oil, a residue consisting mainly of ash and carbon is often deposited upon the fire plate forming a hard crust thereon. This deposit can readily be removed from the plate by moving the plate laterally one groove width so that the grooves fouled by residue are no longer under the end of thefuel feed pipes (8) but are in an area where 'onlyhot air is flowing. If the plate is so moved, thedeposit in these grooves will be soon burnt and the ash carried off with the flue gases rendering the. grooves clean again. The lateral movementof the fire plate may be automatically regulated so that one set of grooves first receives oil and 'thenafter a predetermined amount of oil has been consumedor after acertain period of time has elapsed, the other set of grooves receives the oil. Specific means for carrying this into effect will be seen'in Figures V and VI of the accompanying drawings. Referring to Fig. V an oil meter (19) is connected in the fuel line (9). This oil' meter is provided with crank arm (20) arranged to move every time a certain amount of fuel has flowed through the meter. By means of linkage;(21) the movement of crank arm (20) causes the-fire plate, (4) to move laterally. Referring to Fig. VI a timing device (22) provided with a'crank arm (23) arranged to move after a predeterminedperiod of time has elapsed is connected bylinkage (24) to the fire plate (4) so as to cause lateral movement thereof.

Instead of providing a laterally movable fire plate we may make use of a set of laterally movable fuel feed pipes. This may be carried out in practice by making part of the fuel supply pipe of flexible material as shown at (25) in Figure VII. As a further alternative we may have a fuel feed pipe positioned over every groove of the fire plate arranged so that liquid fuel is discharged first from one setof alternative feed pipes and then from the other. A manner of carrying this into effect is shown in Fig. VIII in which each fuel feed pipe (8) is provided with a control valve (26). The control valves of'one set ofalternate feed pipes are connected to an operating bar (27) and the control valves of the other set of alternate feed pipes are connected to an operating bar (28). These bars are connected to a cross member (29) in such a manner that when one set of control valves is open .the other set is closed...

By suitable movement of lever (30) it will be seen that liquid fuel will be discharged first from one set of the feed pipes and then the other.

Although it is hardly ever necessary to remove the fire plate (4) in order to clean it, it may be advantageous to mount it in the. combustion chamber in such a mariner that it is easily removable and interchangeable. I

Both the fire plate and combustion chamber should preferably be made of special material, for instance, chrome nickel steel in order to resist high temperatures and corrosion.

On the bottom of the chamber a trough is formed by bafile plates (11) and (12). Unconsumed oil drips into this trough and is withdrawn through line (13), which may be used for actuaating a signalling or safety device with the object 'of'putting the burner out of operation until the defect icausing such accumulation of oil is remedied.

The quantity of oil supplied to the plate (4) may be regulated by means of a needle valve (18) in the line (9) leading from supply tank (15).

The amount of oil supplied to the burner may be regulated automatically from the condition of the object to be heated, such'as the temperature of the water or the steam pressure in the boiler of a central heating plant. a The quantities of air admitted to the burner may be regulated by making the air opening above and below the'flre plate adjustable as will be seen from Fig. IV in which (31) is a damper for adjusting the amount of air flowingunder the fire plate (4) and (32) a damper for adjusting the amount of air flowing over the fire plate (4). Furthermore'it may sometimes be advantageous to provide adjustable openings for supplying unheated air to the combustion chamber as will be seen from Fig. III in which (33) represents an (ad-- justable opening for admittingunheated air to the cylinder (6) near. the closedend of the combustion chamber 1). 'When starting up the burner it has first to be preheated which may be done by supplying an' easily inflammable liquid, combustible gas or solid fuel to the combustion chamber.

Numerous modifications of the apparatus are possible'without deviating from the principle of our invention. For instance, the combustion chamber need not necessarily be cylindrical, but may be slightly conical, have an elliptical crosssection, or. be curved longitudinally.

Furthermore a plurality of fire plates may be provided, either side by side or one above the other if desired with separation-walls therebetween. These may be used separately or together as desired.

The combustion gases may also be removed tangentially from the combustion chamber if desired.

We claim as our invention 1. Apparatus for burning liquid fuel comprising a substantially cylindrical combustion chamber, an inlet in the wall of said chamber, a fire plate in said chamber, a plurality of fuel supply conduits positioned above said fire plate, and means whereby the. positions ofthe fire plate and the fuel supply conduits may be varied in relation to each other. V

2. Apparatus for burning liquidfuel comprising a substantially cylindrical, combustion chamber, an inlet in the wall of said chamber, a fire plate in said chamber, a plurality of grooves in said fire plate, fuel supply conduits positioned above each of said grooves of said fire plate, and means whereby fuel may be supplied alternatively to the even numbered and odd numbered grooves of said fire plate.

3. Apparatus for burning liquid fuel comprising a substantially cylindrical combustion chamber, an inlet in the wall of said chamber, a horizontally moveable fire plate in said chamber, a plurality of grooves in said fire plate, and fuel supply conduits positioned above every second groove of said fire plate.

4. Apparatus for burning liquid fuel comprising a substantially cylindrical combustion chamber, a jacket surrounding said combustion chamber, an inlet into said jacket, a tangentially directed inlet from said jacket into said combustion chamber, a fire plate in the combustion chamber near the mid point of said tangentially directed inlet, whereby air introduced to the combustion chamber flows above and below said fire plate and parallel to the surface thereof and a conduit for supplying liquid fuel to the surface of said fire plate.

5. Apparatus for burning liquid fuel as in claim 4, including means for imparting a rotary motion to gases flowing through the jacket surrounding the combustion chamber. a

6. Apparatus for burning liquid fuel as in claim 4 including a helical guide plate in the jacket surrounding the combustion chamber.

7. Apparatus for burning liquid fuel comprising a substantially cylindrical combustion chamher, a jacket surrounding said combustion chamber, a conduit from said jacket into said chamber, a fire plate in the chamber, a helical guide plate in said jacket whereby the axial movement of gases in said jacket is opposite to that of gases in said combustion chamber and a conduit for supplying liquid fuel to the surface of said fire plate.

-WILLEM J. D. VAN DIJCK. ADRIAAN M. I. HOOGENDAM. 

